Someone mysteriously withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto from FTX wallets while filing for bankruptcy last month.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly investigating a hack worth $372 million to crypto exchange FTX after it filed for bankruptcy on November 11. The blockchain research department first reported that $663 million in various cryptocurrencies owned by FTX are suspicious.
The transfer amounted to $ 180 million and FTX sent the money to cold storage, while the suspected hackers quickly exchanged the remaining $ 477 for ether and DAI stablecoin. FTTX CEO John Jay Ray III confirmed the hack the next day and said the company was contacting law enforcement about it.
The value of crypto lost in the incident has fallen to $372 million, according to Bloomberg, which cites financial records. The new investigation will be separate from the existing fraud case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. A DOJ investigation could send a hacker to prison for up to 10 years if convicted of hypothetical charges related to computer fraud. Kraken’s security chief initially said the exchange knew the identity of the attacker, but later appeared to back down from those claims.
Bankman-Fried himself has also suggested in an interview that the hacker could be someone from FTX, or someone who managed to install malware on the user’s computer first. “I used it to be eight people. I don’t know which one it is,” Bankman-Fried told YouTuber Tiffany Wong.
The disgraced businessman, who is currently on bail in California, is responsible for FTX after it is alleged that he raised $ 10 billion in client funds in the business division of Alameda Research over the years. Prosecutors estimate that FTTX owes up to a million workers, with the top 50 paying about $3.1 billion.
Bankman-Fried faces eight federal charges, including securities fraud and securities fraud. US Attorney Damian Williams said, “This is one of the largest financial frauds in American history.” Former Alameda FTX executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are cooperating with authorities in further investigations.
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